RSSArchives: August 2007
August 31, 2007
Hidden Google Earth flight simulator?
Huh, a couple makers sent sent in this link that turns Google Earth in to a flight simulator, I just tried it and it works! I'm going to see what no-fly zones it will let me buzz over... -
To enter the flight simulator mode, press Ctrl + Alt + A (Command/Open Apple Key + Option + A on the Mac). Once you have entered flight simulator mode for the first time, you can re-enter the mode by choosing Tools > Enter Flight Simulator. To leave flight simulator mode, click Exit Flight Simulator in the top right corner or press Ctrl + Alt + A (Command/Open Apple Key+ Option + A on the Mac).Flight Simulator Keyboard Controls - Google Earth User Guide - Link.The following keystrokes control navigation and other aspects of the flight simulator. You can also control the aircraft with a mouse or joystick. To disable or enable mouse controls, left click (single click on a Mac). Once mouse controls are active, the pointer shape changes to a cross on your screen.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 31, 2007 04:00 PM
Computers, Online |
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Make a rubik's cube out of dice - Make: Video Podcast
This weekend, Action Girl and I show you how to make a Rubik's Cube out of dice, magnets and epoxy. Interestingly enough, the first Rubik's cube ever was made with magnets! We found inspiration in gfixler's and burzvingion's instructables.
The hardest part that we had with this was getting all the magnets in the right polarity!
Subscribe in iTunes and get the podcast and pdf downloaded automatically. - Link
By popular request, here's a little video of the cube actually moving! - Link
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Aug 31, 2007 10:00 AM
DIY Projects, MAKE Podcast, Weekend Projects |
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Make a rubik's cube out of dice - Make: PDFcast
You can get most everything you need for this project by checking out gfixler's and burzvingion's instructables posts, but in this weeks pdf, you can see how we made our jig, check out our trick for installing the magnets in the corner blocks, and learn Action Girls strategy to speedcubing! PDF Link
Posted by Bre Pettis |
Aug 31, 2007 09:00 AM
DIY Projects, MAKE PDF, MAKE Podcast, Weekend Projects |
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Kazuhisa Terasaki's Weird-72 wooden humanoid
Kazuhisa Terasaki is known for making whimsical robots out of wood. Basically, they're wood, servos, and an MCU. His robot Weird-7 was such a hit in Japan, he produced a kit for it. Now he's showing off a much more sophisticated bot, Weird-72, that's still mainly wood and a crapload of servomotors. Kazuhisa's website has lots of information, pictures, video and even step-by-step on building Weird-7. Unfortunately, it's all in Japanese.
Weird-72 Creator Kazuhisa Terasaki Talks About His Robot Creations [ROBOT-DREAMS] - Link
Kazuhisa Terasaki Weird-7 site - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 31, 2007 08:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Robotics |
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Solar bike and blog tour of Germany
Steve Paine, a.k.a. Chippy, is a Brit living in Germany. He's currently on a bike trip, along the Rhein River, which he's blogging about using a UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC) and portable solar tech. Those geeks in the house who are as ancient as I am will remember Steve Roberts, the "high-tech nomad," who took net-connected, solar-powered bike trips in the computing Jurassic of the 1980s. As you might image, the gear has gotten decidedly more svelte since then. Details of the tech "Chippy's" is using can be found on his blog.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 31, 2007 07:00 AM
Bicycles, Electronics, Gadgets, GPS, Green, Mobile |
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Stupid (yet cool) pen tricks
Timothy Ferriss, author of the 4-Hour Workweek, shows you how to do some nifty pen tricks in this video tutorial. Is this what you end up doing with all that voluminous free time?
Tim Ferriss Pen Tricks - Link
Related:
- How to do (and make) magic tricks - Link
- HOW TO - Shave a deck of cards - Link
- HOW TO - Make juggling balls - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 31, 2007 06:00 AM
Toys and Games |
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MAKE, CRAFT and Halloween wallpaper for iPhones
A few people asked for our covers in iPhone wallpaper format (320 x 480) so here there are (MAKE, CRAFT and Halloween images) enjoy! To install them just put the set in iPhoto (Mac) or point iTunes to the folder they're in (Win/Mac). The first person to take a photo with one on their iPhone and puts it in the MAKE Flickr photo pool gets a special edition MAKE Halloween - Link (zip).
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 31, 2007 05:00 AM
Announcements |
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Repacking NiCd battery packs
The amateur astronomy site Astromart has a short, informative piece on testing and repacking dead power tool NiCd battery packs. These packs are filled with "Sub C" cells. Taking apart a "dead" pack, you can test the individual cells and replace only the bad cells.
Rebuilding NiCd Rechargable Battery Packs - Link
Related:
- Cordless drills - Improve the battery - Link
- HOW TO - Revive Nicad batteries by zapping with a welder - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 31, 2007 05:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Gadgets, Green |
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Banana PC - Custom laptop logo
There's more than just one glowing fruit computer now! - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 31, 2007 04:30 AM
Computers, DIY Projects, Instructables |
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Free penguins
Liz writes -
If you love Linux you automatically love Tux, the cuddly mascot-slash-logo for the open source operating system. Just as the software is free to download and install as your computer's desktop, the patterns for Tux can be downloaded so he can sit on your desktop next to your computer.Free penguins! - Link.The Free Penguin project provides the "source code" for plushie Tux sewing patterns. Your hardware requirements for executing the source code are a printer, fabric access, a needle, thread, and scissors capable of cutting said fabric. Download a development release.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 31, 2007 04:00 AM
Crafts |
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Firefly PCB
John writes -
The Firefly is a tube-based guitar amplifier popularized on ax84.com (a tube amp community and forum). The Firefly PCB was created so even the beginner to tube amps can succeed. The PCB is "open hardware" meaning that the PCB file is free to download and modify as well. Otherwise the PCB's are sold for $19 each. There's a detailed assembly guide as well for download at the site.Firefly PCB - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 31, 2007 03:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Open source hardware |
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MAH PONK: An open table tennis videogame
Viacheslav writes -
I wanted to do something that has a VGA compatible output. I also had an FPGA board lying around and a bad itch to do something useless. With the help of fpga4fun.com, various online Verilog HDL references and VGA timing information I made something that outputs a steady checkerboard picture to a VGA display. That was cool but after a short while the excitement dried out, I needed something more serious. My imagination is quite poor and in a short while I had two paddles on the screen.. And so it began.MAH PONK: An Open Table Tennis Videogame - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 31, 2007 02:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Gaming |
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HOW TO - Make your own embossed business cards using acid etching
Bofthem writes -
Etch. Press. Print. Want to learn how to emboss paper for your own business cards? Create your own pattern on the computer, and etch it into a brass plate. I've wanted to make my own embossed business cards since I was handed a really incredible one at a fancy restaurant. I tried several methods of achieving the effect (photoemulsion, electrolytic etching) but ended up having the most success with a pretty simple and straightforward acid etch method similar to the one used in home printed circuit boards. I still have to work out a few kinks (such as flattening the paper after the emboss without distortion, or reorganizing the method to print before embossing) but I hope you can take something useful from my experiments, and apply it to your own projects.HOW TO - Make your own embossed business cards using acid etching - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 31, 2007 01:00 AM
Crafts, DIY Projects, Instructables |
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MAKE Halloween - first round sold out, but wait there's more!
We are sold out of the illustrated cover version of the MAKE Halloween issue in the Maker store. This version of the cover will be on newsstands on 9/4 so if you want that one that will be the place to get it.
However, we have the alternate cover version available for pre-order (get it here) and a collector's two pack with both cover versions for a special price, you can pre-order the two pack or get the special edition - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 31, 2007 12:00 AM
Announcements, Halloween |
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August 30, 2007
HOW TO - Laser cut (and cook) meat
Here's how to laser cut (and cook) a steak... I didn't want to be the first to try this, so I'm glad someone else did (settings included)... Link.
It might be time to have a laser-cooked-only dinner....
Related:
Laser etch sushi nori - Link.
Laser etched matza - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 30, 2007 08:00 PM
DIY Projects, Instructables |
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HOW TO - Build a very fancy crystal radio
I was never much into amateur radio or crystal set building, so I can't judge the technical veracity of this project, but the how-to looks very thorough and the results are spectacular. The dials, tap switch and case are so cool-looking, they make me want to build one.
Build an antique style crystal radio - Link
Related:
- HOW TO - Building a crystal radio out of household items - Link
- Crystal radio mousetrap - Link
- Make a "Cigar Box" crystal radio set - Link
- Crystal Radio Kit for the Modern Era - Link
- The "Built From Scratch" Crystal Radio - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 30, 2007 08:00 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables, Retro |
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Mind-boggling Transformers papercraft
You may have seen this item on Boing Boing Gadgets, or elsewhere, but if you're an admirer or practitioner of papercraft, you've got to check the link out (as I just did). This Chinese papercrafter created an incredibly detailed, articulated Bumblebee Transformer model using mainly fast-food containers (this badass cardboard dude is basically a bunch of KFC bucket lids and Orion custard boxes). I love how he uses the colored ink in the packaging as the coloring on the model, a great Bumblebee color match.
MY BUMBLE BEE With PAPER - Link
Related:
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 30, 2007 06:00 PM
Arts, Crafts, DIY Projects, Green, Paper Crafts, Toys and Games |
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SparkFun's new digs
SparkFun just moved into some bigger and better offices; they are still in Boulder and cranking out orders for various kits, components, and more. We dropped by the new space last week to check it out and congratulate them on their expansion - [Flickr Photoset]
Posted by Brian Jepson |
Aug 30, 2007 05:00 PM
Announcements |
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HOW TO - Make your own solarbag
A two-part piece on Talk2MyShirt, a wearable electronics blog, shows you how to roll your own solar-powered device-charging bag.
Make your own Solar Bag and the sun power will be with you - Link
Related:
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 30, 2007 04:00 PM
Crafts, DIY Projects, Electronics, Green, Mobile |
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Flat-screen pinball
Here's an interesting looking pinball machine made from a huge flat screen... Here's the artist's description...
The "cyberspace" level represents the alleged dangers the Internet poses fo children, as envisioned by parents and scaremongering media. Here kids can lose control (as the player can, by getting the ball into a pachinko-like structure) while trying to reach the browser bar at the top of the playfield. Killer psychopaths or dungeon fodder, gambling.¡Presa de la red! ("Prey of the Net!") - [via] Link.
From the pages of MAKE:
MAKE 08 - A secret history of Myst, resurrecting a neglected pinball machine, making an asteroid mining colony on your kitchen table, creating robotic desk toys, building a rubber band ornithopter, making a toy gun controlled alarm clock, and a special primer on mold making by Mythbuster's Adam Savage - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 30, 2007 03:00 PM
Arts, Toys and Games |
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Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
Tel: 707-827-7311
Gareth Branwyn
Robot Maker
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Video Maker
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CRAFT
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Culture jammer
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Current Podcast
Weekend Project: Soda Bottle Rocket
With a few empty soda bottles and some PVC pipe, you can build a high-performance water rocket. Original project by Steve Lodefink. The basis for this project's launcher design is the Martinet LauncherTo download Soda Bottle Rocket MP4 click...
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